TITO STILL HAS HIC UFC FOOT IN THE DOOR.

I read recently that Tito supposedly is negotiating with UFC again. If that's the case, how did that come about?

As part of his contract, he goes out and ... I don't know, something to do with his contract, but he's still got his foot in the door with his contract. As part of our business practice in this crazy world these days, we — let me think how I can word this to you.

Take your time.

Yeah, probably going to have to.

I always say, we make this thing look a lot easier than it really is, and we're definitely not going to make it easy for anybody else. We're going to make things tough for other people.

It sounds like you're saying basically you have certain negotiation rights with Tito.

Yup, and I'm going take them.

Given what you guys said about each in the months leading up to his last fight, how realistic is to expect Tito to ever fight in UFC again?

Listen, me and Tito didn't say anything worse than what we said before he came back and became a coach on The Ultimate Fighter. Tito and I do not like each other. We do not. It's 100% real, we don't like each other at all, but it doesn't mean we haven't done business together before.

So you have no problem putting aside personal feelings for business?

Sometimes. We did for a lot of years.

AFFLICTION 3 NEWS

Although the second Affliction show is still over a month away, future plans include a third show that will most likely take place in January of February 2009. One fight that Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio is looking at is one that some fans have been talking about for quite some time.

"In terms of fighters we are looking at Jerome LeBanner, he is interested in doing MMA and apparently him and Tim Sylvia have some history between them so that is something that we are looking at right now."

LeBanner has been very critical of Sylvia going back a few years now when he stated that he wanted to fight Sylvia and he did not think Sylvia was any good. He has called the former UFC champ out numerous times in interviews.

"Geronimo" is a fixture in the K-1 kickboxing circuit where he has made a name for himself. He has always been a top contender for the World Grand Prix Championship.

"We are taking things one step at a time but we will see where it all goes." Atencio said of future shows.

Sylvia's stock has dropped quite a bit, losing three of his last four fights albeit being against three of the top heavyweights in the world in Fedor Emelianenko, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Randy Couture.

This fight may not be a headliner fight in the MMA world but for the hardcores out there this is one that has been talked about on and off again for years and could be a big draw in a co-main event slot for the company.

Another fighter that Affliction has been actively pursuing is former Pride star Sergei Kharitonov,

"I would absolutely love to bring Sergei Kharitonov on board. He has had some back injuries that have kept him out of action but I would love to have him. I'm a big fan of Pride."

Kharitonov's last bout came almost a year ago when he KO'd Alistair Overeem in the first round of there former K-1 Heroes (now DREAM) bout.

UFC 87

My lead source besides me watching it live on PPV were MMAExtreme those guys were first with the results ... heres how it went ...
Georges St. Pierre defeats Jon Fitch via unanimous decision
Brock Lesnar defeats Heath Herring via Unanimous Decision
Robert “Rich Boy Wannabe Thug” Emerson defeats Manvel Gamburyan via strikes in round 1
Kenny Florian defeats Roger Huerta by unanimous decision (domination)
Cheick Kongo defeats Dan Evenson via TKO round 1
Demian Maia defeats Jason McDonald by submission in round 3
Tamdan McCrory defeats Luke Cummo via unanimous decision
Jon Jones defeats Andre Gusmao via unanimous decision
Chris Wilson defeats Steve Bruno via unanimous decision
Ben Saunders defeats Ryan Thomas via Armbar in round 2
Now, my thoughts. Referee Steve Miragliotta still sucks beyond belief. Did he really poke Heath Herring in the eye during the staredown? Give me a break, Miragliotta, how does it feel to be known as the shittiest ref in the sport? In all fairness, I didn’t see the actual eyepoke, I just saw Herring turn away from him, I said “what happened” and then I heard Rogan and Goldberg talking about Dan Miragliotta poking Heath Herring in the eye. WTF.

Also, I noticed Goldberg is keeping more stats on the fighters now. For instance, tonight I learned nobody has ever passed Jon Fitch’s guard in the UFC (prior to tonights fight). Also, GSP has a 80% takedown rate. I think Goldberg even mentioned a takedown defense percentage. Kinda interesting stuff I guess.

Kenny Florian put on a technical clinic for Roger Huerta, and in my opinion, totally dominated the fight.

Brock Lesnar is a giant LNP machine. Ok, maybe thats unfair of me to say, after all, he did try to crush Heath Herring’s ribcage with knees, and he punches like a mule kicks, but was still unable to finish Herring. Props to Herring for being a tough SOB.

I was really hoping to see Manvel Gamburyan break off one of Rob Emerson’s limbs, but oh well, Emerson KO’d him in like 12 seconds. In case you’re not aware, Robert Emerson is the spoiled little rich kid who gangs up on innocent people at gas stations, with 12 of his friends.

FEDROR vs ALOVSKI COULD BE A WASH - ARLOVSKI vs BARNETT MORE LIIKELY

Drew Smith reporting - It is being reported that a hand injury may hinder the proposed WAMMA heavyweight bout between champion Fedor Emelianenko and Andrei Arlovski.

The report said Emelianenko has been dealing with the lingering injury and it’s severity makes it very unlikely that the Russian will be ready to compete by the October 11 fight date.

It is not known whether or not his hand was injured before, during, or after his July 19th bout with Tim Sylvia or whether the injury was re-aggravated sometime after the fight.

For now, it seems as if Affliction is going to be replacing the headliner with a bout between Andrei Arlovski and fellow top heavyweight contender Josh Barnett.

Both fighters are coming off impressive victories at Affliction’s debut event on July 19th. Barnett avenged a former loss to Pedro Rizzo with a 2nd round KO and Andrei Arlovski had a great night as well with his 3rd round KO of Ben Rothwell.

Emelianenko had expressed a desire to compete two more times before the end of 2008. With the newly acquired injury concerns surfacing, along with Fedor’s plans to compete in Japan on a New Year’s Eve fight card, chances are the next time the WAMMA Heavyweight champion competes here in the states will be in 2009.